Nov 12, 2014

Of all the wonderful words in Mark Steyn’s new book, the ones that made the greatest impression on me are on the cover.It’s the subtitle, “Don’t Say You Weren’t Warned”.It struck me that literature and history are full of warnings.Some are heeded and some are ignored.Warnings that are not heeded make good drama but bad history.Oedipus was warned.So was Neville Chamberlain.The familiar phrase, “Beware the Ides of March,” illustrates both outcomes.Dismissed by Caesar, it led to his death and a civil war.Employed by Shakespeare, it gave his little play on the affair a bit of tension.

The Canadian Cassandra also brought to mind another drama.“Biedermann and the Firebugs” was written by Max Frisch in 1953.It opens with Herr Biedermann reading a newspaper story about an epidemic of arson fires in his city.No sooner does he put his paper down than a man with a can of gasoline arrives and asks Biedermann if he has a room for the night.What will Biedermann do?

Likewise, I recall an episode of the 1965 TV series, “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” based on Jean Kerr’s book of the same name.Please don’t ask me how I remember this when I don’t remember my dentist’s last name…but I do.In the story, the family dog has a cavity filled which somehow turns his head into a radio receiver.I know, it’s not quite Shakespeare.On the rover-radio, the family overhears the conversation of two crooks planning to swindle them out of their home or the gold buried in the basement or something else of significance (I can’t remember everything).What does this average American family do with the amazing information?

Not every prophesy comes true.The failure of most predictions is predictable.But every decision should be made with an appreciation of consequences easily foreseen.

A vote is a decision and we have been reminded that not voting is a decision too.

Steyn and others have warned us of the danger to our freedom, our lives and liberty, and the advance of human civilization that is the clear, coming result of looking for ways to cooperate with those that have announced their plans to kill you.When the leader of ISIS says he will see us in New York, he means it.The words are not talking points scribbled that morning by a consultant.

But we don’t want to hear or heed al-Baghdadi or Steyn.We won’t believe or appreciate that our enemies (we have enemies?) have not adopted the obvious benefits of diversity and gender equality. Or if we do or suspect, our current administration doesn’t.They keep telling us everything will be alright and who doesn’t want to hear that?The wonderful Jaime Gorelick insists it was better that the CIA and FBI couldn’t collaborate and the warning was never given.What’s a couple of buildings compared to your progressive suspicion of American institutions?

In 1965, that sitcom family, led by the incredibly feminine and wonderfully strong Pat Crowley, got the warning from the dog, called the cops, set up a sting, and bagged the bad guys.How quaint.

Will Robinson listened to Robot and Dr. Smith didn’t.

Biedermann was certain that no arsonist could outsmart him.He couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.There was no point in setting fires anyway.What would be the purpose?And his houseguests filled the attic with cans of gasoline.In the end, he helps measure the fuse and hands them the matches.Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Nov 10, 2014

In the 2012 campaign, President Obama promised to work
tirelessly to cut the growth of college costs in half during the next ten
years.Perhaps he hoped his audience
would only hear, “I promise to blah-blah cut college costs blah-blah in half.” Nope.He was only pledging to cut the “growth”.Between 2003 and 2013 college tuition grew at
almost 80%.So this presidential promise
(out six years beyond his impeach-by date, mind you) was to work a Washington
miracle and cut the growth in tuition to 40%.That’s like JFK vowing to get us half-way to the moon (sometime
soon).Oh, and by the way, the cost of
textbooks has increased at almost the same rate—nearly double the rate of
growth for health care costs.Got to go write
me one of them there textbooks.

As a parent of a college student, the President’s promise
hit me like a puck to the pocket.But I
searched and Googled to no avail.I
couldn’t find anyone that had commented on this pathetic response to a very
real problem facing the beleaguered and beloved middle class.Then I looked at the proposal with the
liberal mind-set.If the Education
Department budget grew 10% in fiscal 2006 but only 9% in fiscal 2007, George
Bush had actually CUT the education budget, insuring the nation would produce generations
of dolts for years to come.So by
promising to cut the rate of growth in half, President Obama was being more
than ambitious; he was being, as usual, audacious.

College debt is devastating for today’s graduating
classes.But excusing the debt is not
the answer.A lunch you don’t pay for is
rarely free. A house that you don’t pay for is rarely maintained.An education you don’t pay for is hardly
worth it.And student debt is not the
only problem.

Most parents I know don’t want to see their kids in deep
debt-debt at 23.So they look for other
ways to cut college costs.One
attractive avenue is the athletic scholarship.For a young woman who likes soccer or softball or volleyball, it’s a
great opportunity.But just like with
academics, the competition for the athletic scholarship is getting fierce.Enter professional coaches, year-round
training and performance enhancing drugs.We may not be raising dolts, but we will soon have a generation of women
without any cartilage in their knees.

Now, here come the anecdotes, so be careful.I know parents of high school water polo
players who have spent more time in emergency rooms than by the pool as their
sons are treated for concussions, severe trauma, and underwater abuse to their
private parts—all part of a compelling desire to win and get noticed by college
scouts.I know hockey moms who have been
rehabbing multiple knees on multiple sons.No one talks about “Roid Rage” any more but I have to think something
chemical is causing normal sporting competition to become cut-throat.And it isn’t only athletics.I know parents who pushed their son so
relentlessly to become a virtuoso and win a college band scholarship, he ended
up leaving school and hating both the French horn and his parents.

So where is all this money going?I will say that the amenities on my son’s
campus are quite nice.The University of
Quantitative Easing is, at least, putting my hard earned poem payments into new
dormitories with clothes dryers that send out a text message when the cool-down
cycle is done.The furniture in Room 585
is new and clean.After I left college
it was discovered that what I had been sleeping on was actually a pre-Columbian
artifact.

I am not sure how to solve this problem.But I do know that cutting the rate of growth
in half is silly.If the Republicans
want to meet their constituents where they live and learn, this is an issue
they should be looking at.

Oct 31, 2014

On this, the darkest night of nightsOf beastly dreams and ghostly lightsI try to dodge the Devil’s hostAnd ponder on what scares me mostA poet, I’m a timid fellowThe streak that spans my back is yellowIf you say, “Boo!” I have a hunchThat’s quite enough to lose my lunchI don’t let ravens near my hearthOr heavy breathers known as DarthI see a threat in every shadowI’m scared to death of Rachel MaddowI don’t care what my father saidMonsters lurk beneath my bedAnd when I peek, I pause and positIf they’re not there, they’re in the closetIf I don’t see it, still I fear itThat nasty creaking!Don’t you hear it?Yes, every sound can raise a hackleLike Hillary’s annoying cackleNow comes a thought That’s far more troublingThat scars the lungs Like brimstone bubblingA throbbing thought that far exceedsThe claws that reach, the brain that bleedsThat speeds at night from hell’s own vorticeAnd grips my soul like rigor mortisWhat scares me most? Here’s my confessionThe SenateIn a Lame Duck SessionSpare us spirits!Hear and HeedDeliver us from Harry Reid

Aug 2, 2014

Some think that strength is weaknessAnd that borders are for breachingOr that our country’s like a whaleThat’s set a course for beachingRegardless, heedless leadershipWon’t hear what we’re beseechingAt times, I feel my poetryIs to the choir, preachingI balance rhyme with reasonWhen effects might be far-reachingAnd I believe a whisperHas more influence than screechingLest we be roundly criticizedFor vastly over-reachingMy reputations stained enoughAnd may not take more bleachingBut times will make a momentAnd this moment’s made for teachingAnd so the subject of my poemQuite clearly is…impeachingWise men say the republicIs secure and quite-long-livedThey point out painful PresidentsThe nation has survivedThat sure is smart I grant youBut I’ll say something smarterEight years of ObamaIs like sixteen years of CarterThe Framers raised a mansionWith the strength designed to take itBut every day that passes I’m not certain we can make itThe only piece of comfort Is each morning I rememberThat if we trust the pollsWe only need to reach NovemberThen more new paths are opened And all our options widenAmong which is the prospect Of President Joe Biden